Now he is on a vinyl craze. All of his CDs sound like crap, and he won't listen to them anymore.

I finally got things set up so I can rip my vinyl and clean it up digitally. It's amazing how much good can be done even by the simple "trainable" noise removal filter that's part of Audacity. Vinyl purists seem quite happy to ignore the pops and the hiss of vinyl. Likewise, vinyl is generally equalized to get around physical limits in the vinyl, and many people find that equalization pleasant. It's that "warmer sound" after all.

Also, there's a massive quality difference between recent vinyl and older stuff. As vinyl ages, it seems to get a whole lot noisier. CDs have their own aging problems, but if you rip it before it physically deteriorates, then you're fine.